Since Crosby, his rival superstar, had to sit out game four Wednesday night due to the concussion he suffered at the hands of Matt Niskanen in Game 3, Ovechkin apparently had a sympathy game, sitting out as well.
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Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Crosby is focused on his rehab and didn’t provide an update on the star centre’s availability for Game 5 of Pittsburgh’s best-of-seven Eastern Conference final with Washington. That left the Penguins without two regular forwards – Conor Sheary also had a concussion – and they responded with a 3-2 win that will be remembered for the player who wasn’t on the ice.
After the Caps had taken a 2-0 series lead against Pittsburgh in the second round in 2009, we wrote how we were witnessing the shift of power in the conference, that the Caps had overtaken Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. He had 11 points in eight playoff games for the defending Stanley Cup champions before his injury.
October 2016: Missed first six games of the season after sustaining a concussion in practice.
This will be only the second time in Malkin’s career that he will play a playoff game without Crosby. “I thought he interfered with blocker and hands and he (Talbot) couldn’t make the save”. They turned a pile of Capitals mistakes into a lead they desperately protected, and they can win the series Saturday because of it.
Rendered a backup most of the season behind Matt Murray, Fleury is now Pittsburgh’s most vital player, one who seems to thrive in the face of Washington’s incessant pressure.
Fleury said the Penguins can’t get caught up in trying to retaliate, though Washington expects Pittsburgh to ramp up the physical play going forward.
Hornqvist gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 4:39 of the first when he split defensemen Brooks Orpik and Karl Alzner for a breakaway down the slot.
In a game the Capitals desperately needed, Washington captain Alex Ovechkin managed just two shots on goal.
“We win games different ways”, Sullivan said. Marc-Andre Fleury has allowed 22 goals on 336 shots faced.
“We’ve had more, right?” winger Phil Kessel said. “That was really unfortunate for us”. One more win an they’re through and they’ve got three shots at it.
To this you can add: The Pens caught a huge break with the extra day’s rest between Games 4 and 5 and Crosby will have an extra day to heal. Certainly he’s a very good player. Pittsburgh’s first goal came on a Patric Hornqvist breakaway set up by a handsome stretch pass from Olli Maatta.
Gibson held off the Oilers over the first 10 minutes of the game when they outshot the Ducks 8-3.
That’s why Cole, who’s second in blocks in the playoffs behind Edmonton’s Kris Russell, is such a valuable piece of the Penguins’ defense: He’s good at something he doesn’t necessarily want to do every shift.
In Game 4, it was a little bit of everything.
Ovechkin, meantime, owned his lackluster effort, saying he didn’t play his game.
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Watching Game 4, you might presume that there’s no reason to rush Crosby back in the lineup.
